


Marie's Birthday

by Spacebrick



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Birthdays, Cousin Incest, Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-22
Updated: 2016-09-22
Packaged: 2018-08-16 18:40:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8113189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spacebrick/pseuds/Spacebrick
Summary: Marie was never big on birthdays. Unfortunately, Callie is.





	

  Marie awoke in the morning, peculiarly to no alarm clock. Her day hadn’t even started yet before she had made her first mistake. She wrestled all three of the blankets she used to keep as cozy as possible off of her, and sat up, not entirely aware of the fact that she would usually be at the studio by now. Her eyes blinked a few times and subsequently opened wide in shock as the idea that she may be late suddenly came into perspective. Attempting to make her way out of bed to get a good look at the time and idea on how much exactly of a blunder she had made, her struggling only made the horrible conglomerate of sheets on her bed pull her back. It was as if they had become so acquainted with her at this point that they knew what she truly wanted; that is, to go back to sleep. A tangled Marie did manage to find her way off the mattress, but only with a large thud on the floor. Her second mistake of the day.

  With a slight sense of accomplishment, Marie’s triumph melted into relief as soon as she saw the digits on the clock: 10:27. She slumped back into her blankets. Now it was too late to make a difference, whether she rushed to work or not. She wouldn’t even have to change from her T-shirt and shorts! Marie would just have to call in sick, and tell Callie that she was stuck with a fever all day, though perhaps it would be better to simply tell her that she didn’t feel like going; Lord knows that Callie would insist on making sure she knew everything, and there were a million things Marie would rather be doing on her feigned day of recovery than have Callie shove a thermometer down her throat while fretting over “her poor cuzzie”. Though she enjoyed the extra attention during her actual bouts of illness, she knew from experience and disappointed looks that she wouldn’t be getting any over a faked cold.

  Still, Marie thought to herself why exactly she had been in bed for so long. _How could I let myself sleep so late?_ She usually didn’t forget to set her alarm clock; rather, her problem would be more along the lines of sleeping through it. After last night’s TV binge that stretched into 4 in the morning, her body was clearly desperate to hold on to that rest. But whenever that happened, Callie was quick to ensure she didn’t get even a moment’s extra rest. Wait a minute. As the early bird, wasn’t it basically Callie’s job to make sure that she was awake? Marie passed the fault to her cousin, or, more like convinced herself that it wasn't her own. _How could Callie let me sleep so late?_ It would have to be not only a reason to oversleep, but also one that Callie would let her stay in bed for… it was especially strange, considering Callie hadn’t even tried to wake her up yet, only to have Marie pull the blankets over her head and tell the ever-peppy pop star to get out of her room, as she did on their vacation days. Putting this all together, it begrudgingly hit Marie after a moment of denial:

Today was her birthday. That’s right. One more year she had been on this flooded planet. Something that was, at least, according to Callie, _an extra special day that means you’ve gotten through an entire 365 days of challenges and fun_! (Marie stuck her tongue out and gave her best Callie impersonation.) Callie would even discuss at length how great it was that it basically meant everyone got their own personal holiday, whether you were rich, poor, famous or unknown. Marie, on the other hand, couldn’t even come close to understanding why in the world it was something special. A year in itself was completely arbitrary, after all - the fact that Earth’s position in relation to the sun had gone through an entire cycle hardly had any effect on how unique a particular day was, especially when the date itself hardly mattered: If Marie had been born on the 18th or 20th instead, would she really be any worse for wear?

  Oh well. If she had to pick any day for vacation, as she had undoubtedly done earlier that year, she could at least pick a day that made Callie happy to do so (and promise her not to wake her up). Marie heard an unintentionally loud knock at the door, and her cousin’s voice could be heard throughout the room, though uttering only a single word: “Marie?” Marie gave her response quite instinctively:

“Yes?” Her third mistake.

  After her near-instant response, her first thoughts were that Callie was probably trying to see if she was awake, and her first feelings something of regret. These were near instantly confirmed when the door swiftly opened, and-

POP! FWOOOOOOOOOOT! The sound of thunderous party favors echoed throughout the house. Remnants of what was no doubt a confetti popper scattered around the entrance, and Marie, who had already been startled up by the popper, was not in any way reassured by the streamer.

“Happy birthday, Marie!” Callie exclaimed as she boldly paraded into the room. She had a wide, toothy grin plastered on her face, although most of her face was hidden by her Groucho glasses (which Marie exclusively referred to as “funny glasses”). Dropping the party favors, Callie threw her arms up into the air as if to congratulate. _Congratulate what?_ Marie pondered, wishing that said congratulations could be cancelled in favor of slouching back into bed. _The fact that I made it through another 52 weeks without wandering into traffic?_

“Callie, you… really went all out with festivities this morning, didn’t you?” Marie let out a sigh, and reluctantly tried getting on her own two feet. Last year, Callie had walked into the room opening one of those stupid electronic birthday cards; those were annoying, but at least not ear-piercing. “Might not look like it, but I can still move myself,” she declined to the offering of Callie’s hand.

“Of course I did my best to go all out!” Callie would not have her smile impeded by any grumpiness on Marie’s part. “You know how important your birthday is, right?”

“Not really,” Marie yawned. It’d be a while before she really woke up. As jealous as she was of Callie’s ability to instantly be awake on any given day, she couldn’t bear the idea of not experiencing the wondrous feeling of getting to crawl back into bed.

“Well, it’s a good thing I know for you, then!” Callie giggled, but Marie could only roll her eyes. It was, in terms of energy efficiency, the best and simplest way to display slight contempt.

  Marie bounced onto the white sheets of her bed, letting her legs hang off, and let her chin droop, supporting it with her upright arm. Gazing at Callie, she braced herself for whatever “surprises” her eager yet misguided cousin could have planned for the day. Might as well start it out with something good.

“So, since it’s my birthday, that means you have to do stuff for me, right?” Marie inquired. Though she hated the general festivities of her birthday, what she did appreciate was the privileges that came with it: She could lay in bed all day, once Callie’s gift bonanza had taken its course; for the most part, idiotic responses notwithstanding, she could sleep in for once; and though Callie’s maternal criticism never did much to stop her, at least she wouldn’t have to hear it.

“I do stuff for you all year round, Marie!” Callie showed off one of her golden smiles. Marie couldn’t particularly argue against those words or that face, even if the latter was accompanied by those stupid spiral glasses. Which reminded Marie that that was a situation that needed rectifying as soon as possible.

  “Fair enough. For starters, though, you can lose those clown glasses…” Marie relaxed and shifted her arms into cupping her nape. “I wanna see those pretty eyes of yours.”

“Aw, you know how much I love the beaglepuss!” Nonetheless, she took the compliment and giggled. “But it is _your_ birthday!” Folding her glasses into her pocket, Callie murmured something about the two of them really having the same look; but Marie paid no mind as her bright, golden eyes came into sight once again. Callie folded her arms behind her back, and took a few steps closer to Marie. “That reminds me! I planned out a lot of stuff to surprise you this time!”

“I think you’ve surprised me enough already…” Indeed, keeping Marie from her beauty sleep was, to her, the cruelest prank of all.

“Better surprises! But anyways… don’tcha know what you get first for your birthday?” Callie leaned forward, staring straight into Marie’s eyes.

“Uh…”

“ _Birthday hugs!_ ” Callie gleefully announced, and quickly pulled her arms away from her behind to throw them over Marie’s shoulders; she snugged her head into Marie’s neck and let it sit there as the two of them held their embrace for a while. As Marie was sitting down, it was a bit hard to reciprocate, and so she had to awkwardly stretch her arms over Callie’s torso; truth be told, it would have been ideal if Callie had surprised her after waiting for her to stand up first. But she didn’t mind too much, because oh man Callie hugs were the best, even if they also happened to be birthday hugs. Callie cooed and may have even planted a few kisses on Marie’s neck, while Marie to no avail searched for a good place to reciprocate them on Callie’s at the moment standing, bending body. After perhaps a little too long, the two of them separated at last. Marie decided it was a high time to actually get up, and managed to return the favor through a kiss on the cheek.

  “It’s only fair,” she smirked. Callie was tempted to retaliate with a kiss on the lips, but decided against it, and instead only smiled and laughed; as fun as kiss wars always were, there were other things that had to be done today. Grabbing Marie by the hand, Callie led her from the bedroom to the hallway, and taking her sweet time to get there despite the kitchen and bedroom being only a few rooms away.

“So, Marie, you must be pretty hungry!” Callie dragged her cousin along down the hall much the same way one would drag a cat on a leash.

“Undoubtedly. Which reminds me, did you get those frozen waffles I put on the list? I didn’t tell you I did but last night I REALLY wanted blueberry waffles, so.” Obviously hoping Marie would say something to that effect, Callie grew more visibly excited than before (in that she was always visibly excited), growing a wide grin and doing a bit of a bounce up and down (which was adorable, in Marie’s opinion).

  “Yeah… but I hope unfrozen is okay too!” At last, Marie was led into the kitchen which smelled unusually good. On the counter in front of her lay a plate of freshly made food that felt more like a Valentine’s Day confectionery than a birthday’s: First of all, was, of course, the waffles, two cut into a heart shape with what was obviously a knife; many of the squares cut off abruptly and the edges were quite rough. Notably, they were most definitely _not_ frozen, and instead looked as if they came out of the waffle iron.

“Callie, you’ve never used the waffle iron before,” Marie stated, as if the waffles themselves were some sort of correctable contradiction.

“Not as of this morning! I spent all night searching how to use that stuff on the internet! It’s just so convenient I usually do the grocery shopping…” Callie smiled and winked.

“Well, you did really great for your first time, Callie.” She was legitimately impressed; although using a waffle iron was no insurmountable task, her cousin hadn’t done much previously to progress on her own in terms of cooking, only learning during her cousin’s lessons and maybe things Marie talked about while she herself cooked. Marie was proud of her cousin, and gave her a slight smile in return.

“Ah, I wouldn’t be so sure…” Callie splayed her hands out to Marie, and they had a few burn marks of their own.[1] Nonetheless…

“Hm, everyone makes mistakes on their first time, Callie,” Marie reassured her cousin. “You could’ve done worse. The first time I ever tried to make coffee, I dropped the pot on the floor…”

“Oh hey, I remember that!” Callie scratched the back of her head. “Gramps just sighed but honestly when he does that it’s the saddest thing ever!” She gave a bit of a frown.

“...So we bought him a way more modern one with our summer wages. Helped that geezer out, if you ask me. I think it’s worth it just to see him smile, though...” She thought back to the simple days when nothing was more complicated than managing your summer job money to buy a coffee pot.

“Yeah! And I’m sure it was just an excuse so you wouldn’t have to use that crummy old pot that Gramps was fine with…” Callie chuckled. “Anyway! That’s not all I made for your breakfast!” She began to point out all the items of food as if she were a waitress of some sort, and rapid-fired her words. “There’s eggs and toast on there too!” She gestured towards the two items on her plate, which were also heart shaped - the egg was actually neatly overlaid onto the toast. “The eggs were super easy to shape, I just had to buy one of those molds at the grocery store today but the toast was a little bit harder because I don’t think they have toast molds so I kind of had to cut it so it might be a bit rough around the edges, sorry! Also I made the eggs sunny side up because I know that that’s your favorite kind and you were teaching me all about the different kinds of eggs so I thought I would put my skills to the test, y’know? Plus there are blueberries on there too, they were supposed to be in a heart too but I kind of had to settle with a circle because of the space” she said, pointing at the blueberries which had been attempted to be arranged into a circle, but had likely fallen as a result of the plate’s slopes, “because I know that you love blueberries but if there are already enough in the waffles I can always take them off your hands!” Callie winked and, seemingly finished with her explanation, folded her hands behind her back and waited to hear Marie’s thoughts, bouncing back and forth.

Marie was astounded at the speed Callie was able to maintain a train of thought, even if she didn’t necessarily speak clearly nor concisely. But Marie thought that it was adorable to see Callie work herself up in passion over something as simple as breakfast, and had, as a result of years of having to decipher this kind of thing, become capable of understanding such rapid speech, and thus made no attempt to stop her.

Even if she could see exactly what was on the plate.

  “You know, it’s always nice to see you put the stuff I’m teaching you to work,” Marie spoke between bites of food. “Never realized having someone who could actually cook would mean they could do it _for me_ , y’know?” The waffles had been smothered in syrup to the point of saccharinity, but in some way Marie found the over-sweetness endearing.

“Well, I always like to give the stuff I know a use! Or else I wouldn’t be learning it, right?” Callie smiled.

“Dunno, you could always just be using it as an excuse to spend time with me.”

“Oh, I don’t need an excuse for that!” Marie rolled her eyes, only to be minorly shocked by Callie, who had moved from beside to behind her, hugging her over her shoulders, wrapping her arms across her chest. As she rested her head onto Marie’s, she made it clear she was not intent on moving until Marie had finished her breakfast. Marie was okay with this.

“I think you might have gone a little overboard with the romantic imagery, though. Aren’t people supposed to do, like, balloon shaped stuff or something for birthdays?” Indeed, Marie was almost surprised Callie hadn’t gone as far as to get custom silverware for the occasion as well.

“Well, they tell you you’re supposed to start days like this with a _hearty_ breakfast!” Marie put her fork down just to reach up and pinch her cousin’s hand. “Ouch. I put a lot of _love_ into that food, y’know!” Even though she couldn’t see it, Marie was able to feel Callie wink on the back of her head.

“You’re lucky I don’t give you my birthday spankings,” Marie groaned. She couldn’t escape Callie’s “wordplay” even on her birthday, it seemed.

“For your years or mine?” Callie giggled. “I’d hope for the first!” If there was one thing Callie could find herself endlessly teasing Marie over, it was their ages.

  As Marie wrapped up her breakfast, she stood up and was just about to take her plate to the sink when Callie snatched it up instead.

“Oh, I’ll get that for you.” Callie hurried over to the dishwasher and shoved the offending silverware inside.

“You know, it might be my birthday, but that doesn’t mean you have to get all obsequious about it.”

“Marie, I dunno what that means,” Callie stated, blunt but flippant.

“...Slavish?” Marie certainly hoped Callie could understand in those terms.

“Well, it’s only one day a year, right? I can get by! Plus, you do the same thing for me.” Marie felt a pang of guilt at this; whether a birthday was something to be celebrated or not, a favor was a favor. Callie’s innocent smile, as if they were truly equal, gave her slight insecurity.

“Well, still. I can wash my own dishes if I’m eating off of them.”

“I made the food, so it’s more like my plate. But anyway, back when we lived with Gramps, you never wanted to do dishes. You never _did_ dishes,” Callie pouted, though still by no means unhappy to help Marie on her birthday.

“Excuse me for not wanting to ruin my hands, unlike a certain someone.” Indeed, though hidden by her gloves, Callie’s hands were considerably worse for wear than Marie’s.

“Hey, my hands are still pretty!”

“Not as pretty as mine, though,” she retorted.

“I’ll give you that one,” Callie chuckled.

  With breakfast finished and the dishes put away, it was time to move on to the other festivities that Callie had planned today. Callie, out of nowhere, put her hands over her cousin’s eyes.

“Keep them that way, please!” she asked. Marie closed her eyes as she was told.

Through the next minutes Marie was able to hear a few interesting sounds. There was, first of all, the sound of the fridge opening, to be shut a few moments later. It then sounded as if a cover of some sort was being removed (and unrelated to sound, there was also the tactile sensation of a kiss planted on her cheek, which Marie could not help but smile to), and following that there was the scurrying of two nimble feet back to the counter.

Of all these noises, the one that Marie expected the least was the then loud shattering crash of ceramic intermixed with a gasp in shock. Something told her that was not part of the routine, but Callie quickly reassured Marie that nothing was wrong.

“No peeking, eheh.” Callie returned to the counter.

“I’m pretty sure you just don’t want me to see that broken plate,” Marie pointed out.

“No sassing either,” she flippantly ordered, even if Marie was right, “or you’re not gonna get any cak- oh shoot.” Callie sighed in exasperation, disappointed she could keep just as many secrets as she could plates in her hand. “Oh well, it was already on the table anyways. You can open your eyes now!”

“Alrighty then.” Marie did as she was told, and shortly after, let her jaw hang agape as she realized what was in front of her. It was not the cake itself that was surprising, thanks to Callie, but rather what was on top of it.

“Y’know, drawing with frosting is kind of fun! It’d be cooler if they weren’t all the same flavor, though…” Callie giggled to herself as Marie looked upon the cake.

  There was a bit to take in. Rectangular, it easily fit both of the drawings that Callie had, as precisely as one can draw on a cake, sketched onto it. To the left was a picture of the two of them as children, both sporting their favorite childhood kimonos, which were, to them, practically a symbol of their youth. And to the right, their current selves. They donned their performance outfits, of course; since they had won that Calamari singing contest, they had really come a long way, huh… Perhaps one of the most important parts of the picture was that in both, the two of the cousins held hands, warm smiles echoing the fact that the two had an unbreakable bond, palms interlocked or not. Had they really been together for all this time?

But to Marie, the most stunning feature on the cake was the text. It, of course, alternated between the signature red violet and lime green of the Squid Sisters. On the top, it read “EVERY BIRTHDAY IS SPECIAL”, in a stark all-caps, in some part owing to Callie’s otherwise sloppy handwriting. On the the bottom: “SQUID SISTERS FOREVER”, and next to it, a heart emblazoned in bold red. Marie sat in silence for a bit, taking in everything that the cake made her feel, while Callie watched on with a humble smile that began to fade into slight confusion.

  At that moment, Marie realized her own appeal for birthdays. She now knew it wasn’t the date itself that was worth celebrating, at least to her, but the year. Yes, maybe 52 weeks without wandering into traffic was something special - it was another 52 weeks she had gotten to spend with Callie. Yes, birthdays were still, by and large, unnecessary to the person whose birthday it was - but maybe throwing a party showed how grateful you were for the person who you had spent that time with. Especially when that person was so close to you.

Yes, Marie, unknown for being overtaken by emotions, was growing sappy because of a cake, but at least good emotions are better than bad, right? She still had no words, but rose out of her seat regardless.

“Haven’t gotten much feedback… do you like it, Marie?” Suddenly, Callie felt Marie’s hands on her back as Marie thrust her arms out and hugged her around the waist. It might not have been the most explicit gesture of gratefulness, but it was certainly something - Marie was far more of a get-hugged kind of girl than a do-the-hugging one, at least initially. In a way, it was funny, but sweet. Callie gave a one-of-a-kind laugh - the kind that you laugh not out of humor or ridicule, but love and comfort and sugar. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  Marie decided that she wanted a moment to think through this cake-induced epiphany - it was certainly much more enlightening than the previous years of pop cakes and dancing cakes and tanuki cakes and whatever else Callie would frost. Not a moment, more like a few minutes. More than a few minutes, maybe an hour or so. What Marie really wanted was to go back to bed - it was too early for philosophy.

But she was sure Callie had more planned for the day.

“So I thought for the rest of the day, we could…” Callie started. Here it came. Last year, it was laser tag. Before that, the movies. Maybe Marie would enjoy the day a bit more if she had remembered her own birthday and gotten at least the slightest bit of rest? “...do whatever you felt up to.”

“Wha?” Marie needed to hear it one more time, make sure that she was finally getting an exception after a decade, give or take a few years of dragalongs. “You mean… what I want? Not what you want and pretend that I do too?”

“Ouch, Marie.” Callie uneasily rubbed her shoulder.

“...Sorry. Pretend I was smiling.” That could have gone a little further than she meant it to. Thankfully, though, Callie’s face returned with a glimmer of a smile.

“Eh, it’s fine.” She brushed it off, and perhaps in lieu of an olive branch, slung her arm around Marie. “Besides, I know you always end up enjoying it anyway.” Indeed, once Marie had learned they had laser snipers (the future was fantastic), she had felt right at home; and though both of them had thought, during their viewing, that the movie they had seen was swimming in kitsch and sap, it gave the two of them a good laugh. Besides, movie or no, Marie was more than content to hold hands and kiss for a mere 2 hours.

“Hm, yeah. But you haven’t planned any of that stuff out?” Had Callie run short of ideas after breakfast and cake?

“Well, not exactly! We’re still gonna do stuff soon - I won’t spoil what! - but y’know… I was thinking. Celebrating is nice and all,” Callie looked aside, tip of her thumb softly bitten, “but it’s supposed to be a perfect day! For you! And what that means should be up to you, not me, right?”  
“It’s a birthday well spent, if it’s with you. But you know,” Marie continued as Callie’s face began to flush, “my perfect day involves a _lot_ of sleeping. Especially today.”

“I’m not surprised! Y’know, I could use a bit of extra sleep, too… had to get up at 6 so I could get all the ingredients for the breakfast and stuff.”

“Considering how late I sleep in, I don’t think you needed to give yourself that much leeway.” The two of them laughed at their own sleeping habits. Callie had dragged Marie out of bed a few times, so they supposed it was only just Marie got to drag her back in every once in a while.

“So, bed, then. I’ll be right there!” Callie smiled. Meanwhile, Marie gave a yawn and took a headstart to bed.  When she had made her way down the same corridor as she had about 10 minutes ago, she did not immediately settle in bed, but instead stood aside it, for fear that she lacked the willpower to stay awake long enough to be with Callie. Some birthday it had been, so far - but oh well. Was there really any better way to spend the day than cuddling with her favorite? Maybe they could have one of those days where she asked for another 5 minutes, then another 10, an extra hour, until they had spent the entire day in bed, content with nothing but sheets and a body. That sounded nice right about now.

  The way that Marie and Callie were slow and quick to rise, respectively, carried over to their speed onto the bed; while Marie took the time to snug herself under her numerous blankets, Callie practically - no, literally - jumped onto the mattress. Regardless, when the two of them had settled in, they made themselves comfortable with each other.

“What took you so long?” Marie asked, a fake aura of annoyance surrounding her as she felt Callie wrap her arms around her chest. She usually let Callie set the pace when the two of them snuggled - she certainly had a history in comforting, even since their days of youth.

“I was putting the cake away - we didn’t eat any of it, y’know.” She laughed, her leg stumbling around until it found its home in between Marie’s legs, whereupon she snuggly intertwined the two pairs.

“You’re right. Can’t exactly choose when to have an epiphany…” Putting up the facade of a laugh, a deep sigh nonetheless allowed itself to spill from her mouth. The feeling of Callie’s socked feet stroking against her bare ones could only give her so much assurance.

“Huh? What’s wrong?” Callie vaguely recognized “epiphany” from some of the human mystery novels she had read - what the good guy had when he figured out who the real killer was.

“...It’s nothing,” Marie lied, even though she didn’t expect Callie to believe her. “It’s just - I’m sorry. Sorry for seeming so upset about birthdays, every year… I know you try your best to make it special but I just ruin it by being grumpy.” Worried enough by Marie’s words, Callie grew all the more concerned as she felt Marie’s previously reciprocating body slowly go limp with depression.

“Is that it?” Callie gave a small smile to reassure Marie, making sure to press her face on her shoulder so she could feel it. “Because I’ll tell you, I never feel like you don’t appreciate me!” The previously sleep-bound Callie had suddenly been revved up, her pullstring ripped.

“...Really?”

“Really! You almost always end up enjoying the stuff that I do for you! And even if you didn’t, I wouldn’t care. Because I don’t do it so you tell me how good I did! I do it ‘cause it’s your birthday, and you’re my girlfriend and I want you to know how much _I_ appreciate _you_!” Callie gave Marie a kiss on the neck, pulling her closer, as if her arms alone could keep Marie from surrendering to the negative thoughts storming about in her mind. She felt as though Marie especially shouldn’t be upset on her birthday - imagine the irony if her attempt to cheer her up and on instead sunk her into deep gloom. The thought was unbearable.

“But it’s not like I get you any gifts…” Still, Callie had a point - sometimes you had to show how you felt just for the sake of it, not for any sort of praise in return. It felt comparable to the exact thing Marie had just been doing, expressing her concern and worry just to get it out.

  Despite their wildly different ways of speaking, the two of them had an almost magic way of making each other feel better. Marie gave thanks in the only way she could from this position, squeezing Callie’s leg tight between hers. The message seemed to have gone through, and Callie gave a deep breath, expunging the static air of excitement from her lungs.

“Y’think so? Because I find one on this bed every morning,” Callie softly spoke. She stroked her cousin’s face, just in time to feel it burn red. Marie gave a reserved chuckle.

“Speaking of gifts… I think I’m gonna give you a really nice birthday this year. It’s about time I paid you back.” Considering herself quite the party planner, Callie grinned from ear to ear.

“I’ve got a few ideas myself, if you’d like to get started planning.”

“I think that can wait until we’re up,” Marie murmured.

“Hehe, if you say so.”

And then they drifted off to sleep.

 

**Author's Note:**

> [1] I debated with myself for quite a while whether squids could have burn marks. I came to the conclusion that since they’re essentially evaporating themselves, their body would have a major response. Feel free to have a different idea, but I found it plausible enough. [return to text]


End file.
